Property Taxes - now challenged, revenues fall, first since WWII

One would figure governments fueled on property taxes, which in turn sat squarely on the housing bubble through property over evaluation, would collapse and indeed they are:

The tax appeals and reassessments present a new budget nightmare for governments. In a survey conducted by the National Association of Counties, 76 percent of large counties said that falling property tax revenue was significantly affecting their budgets, said Jacqueline Byers, the association’s research director.

Officials in some states say their property tax revenue is falling for the first time since World War II.

What is more interesting in the above New York Times article is just how high property taxes can actually be:

New Jersey, which has the nation’s highest property taxes, has been besieged by tax appeals from homeowners like Peggy Tombro, whose rambling home in Bound Brook is assessed at a value of $1.8 million but is languishing on the market with an asking price of $1.3 million. Her taxes are increasing to $53,000 a year.

The property taxes alone are above the median salary in the United States for this New Jersey Home. Yoozer.

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A $1.3 million dollar house, $53,000 in taxes, is 4% of value. That may seem rather low, but it's certainly high in property tax terms.

For comparison, in Beaverton, OR, fastest growing city in Oregon, my $250,000 assessed value home cost me $2800 in property taxes last year, a mere 1.12%. And this in a city with no sales tax, and a state that gets by on only income tax, property tax, and user fees.
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